The Wargame

The series was produced by The Garden, a production studio operated by ITV Studios.^[1] The series was developed alongside prominent academics, military and defence experts as well as Sky News' Security and Defence Editor Deborah Haynes to better replicate high-level decision-making.^[1]

Summarize Fact Check

The series is based on a Sky News podcast of the same name. The plot of The Wargame revolves around a fictional Russian attack on the United Kingdom.

As the first episode begins the COBRA meeting is advised of three events that occurred overnight. Two off-duty RAF fighter pilots are shot dead in a car park outside a pub in Lincolnshire, a cyber attack on NHS Yorkshire results in a failure of the computer systems used to manage ambulance responses and a Russian research vessel has appeared off the coast of Orkney, directly above an undersea data cable and has not responded to Navy and Coast guard attempts to contact them. The cabinet debate whether these 3 incidents are in fact linked, whether to wait for certainty or act swiftly with partial information.

The Russian vessel either accidentally or intentionally runs aground on the rocks near Orkney and the Royal Navy vessel HMS Loughborough begins a rescue effort. The Russians brief that their vessel was in fact fired upon by HMS Loughborough and demand the captain be sent to the Hague. The Cabinet refuses to do this and alongside police and intelligence confirmations that the pilots had been killed by domestic terrorists who were being bankrolled by Russia. While considering what to do with this information a Russian sub sinks HMS Loughborough.

Rescue efforts continue but the Deputy Prime Minister is sent to do a press conference confirming the sinking of HMS Loughborough and the loss of life, despite there being mics on the podium rather than fitted onto her clothing. A viral video alleging a hot mic incident where she insults the US President emerges online, the American response is therefore seen as siding with Russia stating the UK is a middle power and should be trying to appease them rather than deescalate. The RAF locate the Russian sub that sank HMS Loughborough and destroy it in turn. Russia retaliates with 36 missiles launched at targets across the UK. While the majority are intercepted 11 hit various legitimate military targets including military bases and HQ buildings in London. One missile intended for the MI6 HQ instead strikes a residential tower block.

The Russians issue an ultimatum that they will cease hostilities if and only if the cabinet resign and some politicians they have hand-picked are installed as the British government. The cabinet reject the offer and order the arrest of those politicians in league with Russia.

Russia then has 40 drones strike further British infrastructure targets, including a power station in Trafford leaving GCHQ North and 600k homes without electricity and a fuel depot at the Portsmouth Naval base which triggers a fire so severe Portsea island must be evacuated.

With no support yet from NATO or the US the Prime Minister orders retaliatory strikes on Kaliningrad and Murmansk with conventional air force fighters and bombers. While the US still dithers other European nations including all of the Nordic and Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine begin to offer material support to the UK. The French position their aircraft carrier in the North Sea which should serve to intercept further missile strikes.

In response to the bombing of Murmansk Russia launch a ballistic missile, it is unknown if it carries a number of conventional warheads that will splinter off and hit targets once they reach British airspace. A "tactical" nuclear warhead which would see a Hiroshima style explosion that could eliminate whichever city it hit or a "strategic" nuclear weapon which could be detonated somewhere like Derbyshire and render Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Sheffield uninhabitable. There's no way to establish what the missile will do until it does it 22 minutes after launch.

The UK nuclear deterrent does not have a tactical option so if the UK responds with a nuclear missile of its own it would be the strategic kind.

Each member of the cabinet gives their opinion on the matter but it is ultimately a decision for the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister only...

The fourth episode of the show concludes with a cliffhanger where the Prime Minister has not stated yes or no when asked if he is authorizing the launch.

The fifth episode never answers the question and instead features a live studio audience, entitled The Wargame: Aftermath and was hosted by Cathy Newman, members of the cast "reflected on the pressures of decision-making at the highest level and explored the wider questions raised from this thrilling documentary series".^[2]

Newman remarks that a number of the participants are now receiving money from defence lobbyists and the real life secretary of defence, Wes Streeting remarks that now that people have seen what kind of threats the country may face they will be more sympathetic to increases in military spending in future UK budgets.

The series featured politicians from various political parties and well-known figures from outside government including Michael Gove, Nicola Sturgeon, Penny Mordaunt, Sayeeda Warsi, Harriet Harman, Jim Murphy, Ayesha Hazarika, Richard Barrons, Kim Darroch, Christopher Steele, George Robertson and Anthony Scaramucci. Gove starred as Prime Minister, while Sturgeon acted as Deputy Prime Minister, Mordaunt acted as Defence Secretary, Harman acted as Home Secretary, Murphy acted as Foreign Secretary, Warsi acted as Attorney-General, Hazarika acted as Director of Communications, Barrons acted as Chief of Defence Staff, Darroch acted as National Security Advisor, Steele acted as Intelligence Chief, Robertson acted as the Secretary General of NATO and Scaramucci acted as the United States Secretary of State.^[3] They were opposed by a team of Russia experts led by Keir Giles.^[1] It also featured social media snippets of real life reactions.

The first trailer for The Wargame was released on 9 September 2026.^[2] It was broadcast on Sky One from 21–24 September 2026 and consisted of five parts. It included a special live episode and was also released on the streaming service Now.^[3][1]

The series is based on a Sky News podcast series of the same name, initially launched in June 2025. It featured a different cast, apart from Barrons & Murphy, and was also devised by Sky News' defence and security editor Deborah Haynes and Dr Rob Johnson, Director of the Oxford Changing Character of War Centre.

• Crisis Command — A similar BBC2 series from 2004